Several years ago, I attended a conference for Cardiovascular Ultrasound professionals. I have the pleasure of attending one educational session presented by the vice president of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. I so enjoyed listening to her talk about Servant Leadership being embraced at the Mayo Clinic and the impact it has had on patient care, employee morale, and overall public opinion of the healthcare organization. I realized that my work at Brighton Medical Center was a reflection of Servant Leadership although it was never defined as such at the time.
Robert Greenleaf is the founder of the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership which is a great resource for diving deeper into the concepts associated with servant leadership and the attributes associated with servant leaders.
The basic concept is built on these servant leadership characteristics.
Person of character:
A servant leader is someone who maintains integrity, makes decisions based on ethics and principles, displays humility and serves to a higher purpose in the organization.
Puts people first:
A servant leader demonstrates care and concern for others and helps employees meet their goals and grow within the organization.
Skilled communicator:
Communication skills are integral to servant leadership, and you will need to ensure you can effectively listen to and speak with your employees, while also inviting feedback.
Compassionate collaborator:
To be a strong servant leader, you’ll need to consistently work with others and work to strengthen relationships, support diversity, equity, and inclusion, and onflict in the workplace.
Has foresight:
As a servant leader, you will need to keep an eye on the future and anticipate anything that might impact the organization. You’ll also need to have a strong vision for your organization and be the type of person who can take decisive action when needed.
Systems thinker:
Servant leaders need to be comfortable navigating complex environments and able to adapt to change. This type of leadership requires strategic thinking and the ability to effectively lead change in the organization.
Leads with moral authority:
As a servant leader, it’s important to establish trust and confidence in your workforce by establishing quality standards, accepting, and delegating responsibility and fostering a culture that allows for accountability.
Those of us who believe in Servant Leadership embrace all of the pillars. As someone who recently learned about servant leadership and knowing that you need to start somewhere, select one of the above servant leadership characteristics and use it to describe your future associated leadership goal. In other words, which characteristic stands out for you currently. How will you use the knowledge you have gained in this course to work towards an organizational atmosphere of caring and servant leadership?
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